Modified carbon cloth with cobalt oxide and palladium for efficient electrochemical hydrogen production

Abstract

Nowadays, the demand for energy is growing and the raw materials for the fossil fuel economy are diminishing. Hydrogen is being extensively investigated as an alternative to fossil fuels. Water electrolysis is a simple and large-scale industrial method, for hydrogen production. In this research, for the first time, the needle-like structure of Co3O4 arrays was directly grown on carbon cloth (CC) by a hydrothermal method. Then Pd particles were electrochemically deposited on the needles-like structure by cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique (Pd@Co3O4/CC). The structure and morphology of the electrode surface were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques. The proposed electrode was applied for electrochemical hydrogen production in acidic media. The catalytic activity of the Pd@Co3O4/CC electrode was compared with CC, Pd/CC, and Co3O4/CC electrodes, which the results showed that the HER performance was as this order: Pd@Co3O4/CC > Pd/CC > Co3O4/CC > CC.